Traffic jams are a norm nowadays; every evening we get stuck in traffic when heading home and the reason is is pretty simple. We have more cars than roads. Ever wonder exactly how much fuel we waste when we get stuck in a traffic jam. The results will be surprising.
Senario
Lets say you are Mr.X and you drive a Toyota Vitz which has everything in perfect running order. You like your car and thus you like to maintain it properly. Now the book says your car should give you 14 km / liter when you use it with light foot and ac. A Vitz has fuel tank capacity of 38 liters and reserve aka blinking starts when you have consumed 32 liters. Which means:
32 liters x 14 km / liter = 448 kms
Now as per the equation above; your car's reserve should start when you have driven it for 448 kms then why is it that your car's reserve starts at 262 kms. This means:
262 kms / 32 liters = 8.17 kms / liter
You are the perfect Mr.X and not Ali Gul Peer aka Waderay ka Beta that you abuse your ride; you Mr.X have a 9 - 5 job and thus you need to stay in your budget. When you bought this Vitz the dealer told you it'll give you average of 14 but you're only getting 8.17. Did he lie to you? because you want to stay in your budget and this car is costing you more than promised. You have properly maintained the car its not the average is below due to some fault in car.
Lets say Mr.X lives in an apartment on Shahrah-e-Faisal and goes to work everyday to Clifton which is 17 kms one way and two way it is equal to 34 kms. if your car went by the book then you'd be requiring 2.42 liters daily however with your existing average you consume 2.82 liters daily. The problem is you get stuck in traffic daily; here's how:
Every morning when you leave home you get stuck for 5 mins at Regent Plaza Traffic Light; Then another 10 mins at metropole. Total of 15 mins in the morning. Now without traffic the time would've been 32 mins from home to work however with this added traffic jam its now taking you 47 mins. Now if your car was running for 32 mins here's how the calculations would've gone.
17 km / 32 mins = 0.53 km / minute
Meaning your average speed should be 31.8 km / hr
But it takes you 47 mins to cover same distance of 17 km thus your average speed is
17 km / 47 min = 0.36 km / minute
Meaning your actual average speed is 21.6 km / hr
Now if you were driving without any traffic on the speed of 31.8 km / hr for 47 minutes then you would've covered
0.53 km / minute x 47 minutes = 24.91 kms instead of 17 kms that you actually did due to traffic.
In the evening again; you get stuck at Metropole for 20 mins and another 10 mins at Avari after which you get home. So in total it took you 62 mins instead of 32 minutes that it would've taken without traffic.
Now your average speed for the evening is.
17 kms / 62 mins = 0.27 km / min
Meaning 16.45 km / hr
Again if you had driven on the ideal average speed for 62 mins it would've been 62 mins x 0.53 km / min = 32.86 kms instead of 17 kms that you traveled.
Based on the above.
You spent 1 hr 49 min on driving to cover a distance of 34 kms which means your average daily speed would've been
109 mins x 0.53 km / min = 57.77
But in reality the situation is
34 kms / 109 min = 0.33 km / min = 19.8 km / hr is your weekday fuel average
Now since there's lesser traffic on weekends so if you drive 40 kms every Sunday without traffic. Which means:
40 x 0.53 km / min = 21.2 mins is what you drive on a weekend.
Based on this your weekly average speed is
(19.8 x 5) + 31.8 = 130
130 divided into 7 days = 18.68 km / hr is your average weekly speed
Conclusion
Now let's assume you constantly drive your car at the average speed of 31.8 km / hr for 448 kms that means
448 / 31.8 = 14 hours
Lets Assume it takes 14 hours for your car to burn 32 liters of petrol and when you drive as following:
14 hours @ avg speed 18.68 km / hr
14 x 18.68 = 261.52 kms is what your tank gives you.
Cost Difference
34 kms x 26 working days = 884 kms
+
40 kms for each Sunday x 4 Sundays = 160 kms
This means your monthly usage is of 1,044 kms. Based on this
If your car gave promised average
1,044 / 14 = 74.57 liters required in a month
But since you're not getting the promised fuel average
1,044 / 8.17 = 127.78 liters is what you use every month
Now this means you're using 53.21 liters extra every month; now even tough these days with cheaper fuel comes close to a Rs.3,724/- extra every month.
Let's just try to avoid routes with a lot of traffic
Just One guy's opinion
OA
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